Cubs, an all encompassing trip

5/31: Around the Cubs Minor League System

Gerardo Concpecion pitched well on Thursday pitching six innings while only giving up two runs on four hits and striking out four. He departed with the game tied, however Austin Reed gave up a run the seventh and Peoria fell to Burlington 3-2. Offensive highlights from the Chiefs came from Yasiel Balaguert delivered a two out two RBI base hit to the tie the game at two in the sixth. Center fielder Yaniel Cabezas also added two hits on the day. Javier Baez continued to struggle as he went 0-for-4 dropping his average to .125

Tennessee had a great pitching performance by Eric Jokisch and company on Thursday as they defeated Huntsville 4-1. The Smokies got the scoring started in the third when Micahel Burgess connected on his fifth home run of the year. Huntsville tied the game in the fifth at one. The Smokies broke the tie in the seventh when James Adduci doubled and later scored on a wild pitch. Junior Lake would have an RBI double and later score on a sacrifice fly by Rebel Ridling in the eighth to give Tennessee a 4-1 lead. Jokisch, who did not factor in the decision pitched 6.1 innings allowing one run on only one hit, but he did walk six. Brian Schlitter got the last two outs of the seventh and got his first win of the year. Keven Rhoderick pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Frank Batista struck out the side to record his seventh save of the year.

Nothing is more exciting than a walk-off win, and that is exactly what Ronald Torreyes did connecting on his first home run of the season and giving Daytona a 7-6 victory. Including Torreyes, Chad Noble, Rubi Silva, Greg Rohan, and Arismendy Alcantara all had two hits on the day. Brevard County got the scoring started in the first scoring three runs. Daytona would put up six spot in the third highlighted by a Nelson Perez grandslam. For Perez it was his eight home run and he now has 34 RBI’s. Austin Kirk was not at his best on Thursday, but after allowing two more runs in the fifth left in line for the win, however Brevard County tied the game in the eighth. Jeffrey Lorick pitched a scoreless ninth and when Torreyes connected on his shot in the bottom half he received his first win of the season.

In Game 1 of the split double-header on Thursday Iowas won 4-1. Iowas got the scoring in the third when Brett Jackson delivered a two out RBI single to drive in Juan Apodaca who had two hits on the day. After Omaha tied it in the third Brett Jackson would drive in his second of the night with a sacrifice fly to drive in Dave Sappelt. The Cubs would add two in the seventh with two outs when Luis Valbuena and Ty Wright both walked to drive in runs three and four. Frankie De La Cruz got the start and 4.1 allowing one run on four hits while striking out four. Ryan Rowland-Smith got the win going 1.1 innings and Rafael Dolis got the save. Good news for Cub fans he struck out two and did not walk anybody.

Omaha jumped on Jay Jackson and the Cubs early and Iowa was never able to rebound. The lone offensive highlight came from Brett Jackson who hit his sixth home run of the season in the sixth. Ty Wright was the only other Cub to record a hit in game two. The same could not be said for Omaha who had eleven hits and ten runs in seven innings. Jay Jackson gave up the firs six runs and Shane Lindsay had a very rough outing walking four of the five batters he faced. All four runs in the sixth were charged to him and the Cubs lost 10-1 in game 2.

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